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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24722680">Pathetic Little Secret</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamypaget/pseuds/dreamypaget'>dreamypaget</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Criminal Minds (US TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M, Fluff</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-14</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 01:40:04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,359</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24722680</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/dreamypaget/pseuds/dreamypaget</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek and Emily love to tease each other and can never pass up the opportunity to compete against each other, even if it could interfere with their work. This one instance pushes Derek reflects on his dynamic with Emily and how he truly feels.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Derek Morgan/Emily Prentiss</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>42</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Pathetic Little Secret</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>Hey everyone! This is my first ever fanfic! It was inspired by an incorrect quote tweet that I thought had a lot of potential for a cute little Demily story. Ratings and feedback of any sort would be highly appreciated! I hope you enjoy it! :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>“They’re over 30 minutes late,” Hotch sighed, checking his watch for what seemed like the millionth time since they entered the LAPD’s homicide unit. </p>
<p>“Just...give them a couple more minutes, they’ll be here,” Rossi said, sounding a lot more confident in his statement than he really was. </p>
<p>Truth be told, Emily and Derek were never this late. Especially not when they had a serial killer to catch. Whenever they were consulting on a case, they always met at the local precinct at 8:30 sharp. The morning meetings rarely ever changed. Yes, sometimes they would meet at a crime scene rather than the precinct but always at 8:30. </p>
<p>“What if they ran into the unsub? Or got into a car crash?” Reid thought to himself. “No, no the chances of that are extremely slim.” He started fiddling with his fingers. </p>
<p>The tensions between the team members were high, each one getting more and more concerned for Emily and Derek every minute. So when Emily and Derek dragged themselves into the precinct what seemed like an eternity later, the whole team was waiting for an explanation. </p>
<p>“What!? We’re sorry we’re late but you’re all looking at us like we just rose from the dead. Is everything alright?” Derek asked, looking at everyone’s confused expression. Emily stood next to him, absolutely exhausted and yawned. Hotch noticed and decided to give them a freebie this time. </p>
<p>“I’ll let it slide this time because this is going to be a one time thing. Don’t be late next time,” Hotch turned and walked into the conference room where the crime scene board and files were already set up.</p>
<p>JJ was still looking for an explanation from her friends as to why they both were so unusually late but told herself she would get it later. She and Reid followed Hotch into the conference room. <br/>Rossi lagged behind to ask the clearly fatigued partners what was up. “Late night, you two?” he joked.</p>
<p>“Don’t even get me started,” Emily laughed, giving Derek a look. </p>
<p>“This one,” he emphasized, pointing at Emily, “just doesn’t know when to stop,” Derek chuckled. </p>
<p>“Me?! It was your idea in the first place!” Emily said, lightly bumping into Derek with her shoulder.</p>
<p>“You wanted me to come over. Remember princess? Or was last night too much of a blur for you?” Derek winked at Emily to which she glared at him. </p>
<p>“Oh shut up will you?”</p>
<p>Rossi smiled at their dynamic and though he was still a bit confused, he decided not to press the matter anymore because the rest of the team was already waiting for them in the conference room. </p>
<p>They all sat down and listened as Hotch gave them their morning briefing surrounding new updates on the case. JJ had to hold in a laugh as she saw Derek nudge Emily right as she was dozing off. Rossi couldn’t help but notice the way they sat next to each other, Emily’s armed propped up on the armrest nearest to Derek so she could rest her head on her hand all the while leaning in just a little too close to him. Derek was seated more upright, though their chairs were so close, his arm and hers were essentially touching. Rossi thought back to the bullpen and their normal seating arrangement. Then thought about the flight they took over to LA, and then remembered every other flight they took before. How hadn’t he noticed them always sitting by each other?<br/>Rossi smiled a little but was quickly pulled out of his own thoughts when he heard Hotch giving everyone their assignments for the day. Rossi and Hotch hopped in their SUV on the way to interview one of the victims’ family members while the rest combed through the crime scenes.</p>
<p>“What’s up with Morgan and Prentiss?” Hotch asked, “They’re never late.”</p>
<p>“Honestly, no clue but whatever it was kept them up all night they looked exhausted,” Rossi answered. After a few moments he added, “I’m giving them 3 more months, tops.”</p>
<p>“3 months? What are you talking about?” Hotch responded, confused.</p>
<p>“Oh come on, Aaron, don’t tell me you haven’t noticed the chemistry. If they don’t notice it themselves we might have to have an intervention,” chuckled Rossi.</p>
<p>“You know that’s against bureau po-” Hotch started to say.</p>
<p>“I know, Aaron, I wrote the damn policies but they’re professional and mature enough to keep their relationship at bay during work hours,” Rossi interrupted.</p>
<p>Aaron thought for a minute and shrugged, “I guess you’re right. As long as they don’t pull what they did today ever again I could turn a blind eye. This is all hypothetical, though. We can cross that bridge when we get there.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>The day before...</p>
<p> </p>
<p>After a long flight from Quantico, the team set up in the conference and quickly headed straight to their hotel. As was the norm, each agent got their own room, all on the same floor. At this point, it was already 11pm in Los Angeles, and way later in Virginia time so most of the agents went straight to bed. Emily and Derek however, had way too many cups of coffee on the flight over while they were reading through the case files. </p>
<p>“Are you still up?” Emily texted Derek.</p>
<p>He immediately responded, “Yeah, can’t sleep either?”</p>
<p>“No, must’ve been the 3 cups of coffee I had on the jet.”</p>
<p>“I had 4, beat that princess.” Derek could practically see Emily rolling her eyes at his text message.</p>
<p>“This isn’t a competition, Derek.”</p>
<p>“Yeah, yeah I was just joking.”</p>
<p>“Do you wanna come over? I doubt any of us are going to get any sleep anytime soon…”</p>
<p>“Ms. Emily Prentiss asking me over to her room in the middle of the night? You don’t have to ask me twice!”</p>
<p>Emily shook her head at her phone even though she knew Derek couldn’t see her. “Get your head out of the gutter Morgan, I only asked so we could put our heads together to try to pick apart these case files.” </p>
<p>“I’ll be right over ;)” Derek texted. Sure enough, a couple seconds later, Emily heard a light knock on her door and let him in.</p>
<p>“We don’t want to wake up the others,” Derek whispered as he quietly entered her room, “Otherwise, we’d have to explain to them what I’m doing sneaking into your room at this hour.”</p>
<p>Emily closed the door behind him and Derek put his case files on her bed. </p>
<p>“So, have you read through them?” Derek asked.</p>
<p>“Yeah, like 5 times already. I can’t find anything new, though.” Emily said, putting her hands on her hips and sighing.</p>
<p>“Only 5? I’ve read through them at least 8 times!” Derek smirked Emily and took a seat on her bed.</p>
<p>“God, does everything have to be a competition with you?”</p>
<p>Derek shrugged. “What can I say, princess, I like winning.”</p>
<p>“Is that so? Too bad we can’t have a real competition right now without waking everyone...then I could show you who’s a real winner.”</p>
<p>“Yeah right Prentiss,” Derek rolled his eyes and thought for a second. “I have an idea: what if we see who can stay up the longest?”</p>
<p>“That’s all you got? I don’t even go to bed til the sun goes up most days,” Emily joked.</p>
<p>“You’re all talk.”</p>
<p>Emily glared at him, “we’ll see about that.”</p>
<p>At first, they were doing alright, they read through the case files together and discussed potential next moves. They even made a connection between several of the victims and a local bakery they each frequented. After a couple hours, however, they got tired of working on the case and decided to play truth or dare.</p>
<p>“Truth or dare?” Derek asked.</p>
<p>“Truth,” Emily said.</p>
<p>“Do you really think you’re going to win?” </p>
<p>“Hell yeah,” Emily said and yawned immediately after. Derek raised an eyebrow at her. “What? It’s nothing, I’m not even tired.”</p>
<p>“Mhm yeah right...okay ask me now.”</p>
<p>“Truth or dare?”</p>
<p>“Dare.”</p>
<p>“I dare you to go to sleep.” Emily smirked.</p>
<p>“Okay you know what, maybe this isn’t working,” Derek sighed and laid down on the bed.</p>
<p>Emily was seated on the edge of the bed and turned to look at him, still smirking.</p>
<p>“You are tired,” she said.</p>
<p>“I’m just laying down, Emily. You should try it. It’s not everyday I get to be in the same bed as Emily Prentiss,” Derek joked.</p>
<p>“You wish,” Emily thought for a second and told herself there was no harm in lying down. She was going to win this thing. There was no way she would let Derek win. She would never hear the end of it if he did. She had to win.</p>
<p>They laid there, side by side, talking about anything and everything. New gossip on the team, their favorite restaurants (though they both knew that about each other), their dream vacations, embarrassing high school moments, everything. Occasionally, one of them would yawn but neither of them gave in. </p>
<p>Hours passed until a crack of light peered in through the hotel room’s window and they heard birds chirping. They both yawned.</p>
<p>“We have to meet at the precinct in a couple hours…” Emily started to say.</p>
<p>“Princess, you can give in now if you want to,” Derek said, his voice almost a whisper because he was so tired. </p>
<p>“If you think I’m going to give in you’re sorely mistaken.”</p>
<p>A couple hours later, Derek jolted up, having no memory of ever falling asleep. He looked over and saw Emily curled up in fetal position, fast asleep. He smiled at how peaceful she appeared and stared at her for a couple moments before reaching over and gently shaking her shoulder to wake her up.</p>
<p>“Emily. Wake up,” Derek whispered, “I think it's safe to assume we both lost.”</p>
<p>“Ugh what time is it?” Emily spoke with slurred words as she sat up and rubbed her eyes.</p>
<p>Derek fumbled around for his phone and saw that it was 8:42 am.</p>
<p>“SHIT!” he shouted, hopping out of bed. “We gotta go Em, we’re late!”</p>
<p>Emily jumped out of bed and immediately started getting ready. Derek did the same, running to his own room to get his clothes. Not even 10 minutes later, the two of them met up in the lobby and jumped into the SUV.</p>
<p>“Fuck Derek what are we going to tell Hotch? He’ll kill us.” </p>
<p>“That we woke up late. It’s not the end of the world Emily.” Derek shrugged nonchalantly. “Not that little miss perfect would know what it’s like to be in trouble,” he laughed and lightly punched her arm.</p>
<p>“Just...shut up and drive, Derek.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Present day... </p>
<p> </p>
<p>Derek was driving back to the precinct with Emily after going through one of the crime scenes. JJ and Reid were in another SUV, not too far behind. It was 3 o’clock in the afternoon and Derek and Emily both had enough coffee at this point to compensate for their fatigue earlier. </p>
<p>“You know something, princess?” Derek asked. “When we told Rossi about us having a late night, we neglected to mention the fact that we were just pulling an all-nighter.”</p>
<p>“Oh my God, you’re right,” Emily burst out laughing. “Do you think he thinks that we- like- you know?”</p>
<p>Derek laughed, “Honestly, I wouldn’t put it past him...We worded the situation a little weirdly and besides, the man’s been married 4 times, he’s seen it all.”</p>
<p>“Do you think we should clarify? I saw him eyeing us earlier at the precinct and now it all makes sense.”</p>
<p>“Nah, I kinda like having a little secret. Just me and you. Even though it is a pathetic one.” Derek took his eyes off the road to turn and look at Emily. She looked back and smiled coyly, breaking eye contact after a second. </p>
<p>A few moments passed before Derek couldn’t handle the awkwardness lingering in the air so he asked rhetorically, “we never did figure out who won did we?”</p>
<p>“Oh God, you’re right, we didn’t but I don’t want to have to do that again. Stalemate?”</p>
<p>“Only if you admit I was a tough competitor.”</p>
<p>“Fine. You, Derek Morgan, put up a good fight. Too bad it didn’t amount to anything, loser.”</p>
<p>Derek’s instincts told him to tease her back but he was taken by surprise when he turned to look at her and immediately got butterflies in his stomach. Her smile. She was smiling at him. For whatever reason. She was smiling so genuinely, and there was something about that smile that took him by surprise. He turned back to look at the road. He had seen her smile hundreds of times and he loved it. Hell, he’d even gone out of his way to tell a joke or do something stupid just so he could make her smile. It was contagious and could always make him feel better. Yet here he was getting butterflies in his stomach like a middle school boy looking at that same smile. He stayed silent. Emily noted that it was unusual for him to turn down the opportunity to tease her but he looked like he was stuck in his own mind so she dropped it.</p>
<p>The two of them sat in complete, and awkward, silence for the rest of the drive back to the precinct. Derek was thinking. Not about the victims or about the case but about her. About the events of the last 24 hours. About the fact that the two of them had those late-night conversations you see only between characters on TV. About the fact that he somehow fell asleep in the same bed as her. Next to her. </p>
<p>This wasn’t just a pathetic little secret.</p>
<p>When he was snapped back out of his own mind, he realized he was smiling. Whatever this feeling that overcame him was, he liked it. He had never felt this way around anyone. Which is probably why he could never have a girlfriend for too long. But he liked the way he felt around Emily. He wanted to feel like this all the time.</p>
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